Furious Celtics comeback falls short against Raptors

Jerryd Bayless poured in 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to spearhead a furious Celtics comeback, but after Boston knotted the game at 103 in the final half-minute, a putback by Amir Johnson with seven seconds left gave the Raptors a 105-103 victory, finalized when Jared Sullinger missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Celtics entered the final quarter down by a dozen points, but a 28-12 run put them ahead at 101-97 with just over three minutes remaining. However, the C’s went on to make just one more bucket over the duration of the contest, with the Raptors closing with a 6-2 run that culminated in Johnson’s putback following a game-tying layup by Rajon Rondo with 29 seconds left.

Bayless led the Celtics with 20 points, Jeff Green had 16 and six members of the team finished in double digits on a night when Boston shot 53 percent from the floor. With the loss, the Celtics remained tied with the Jazz for the fourth-worst record in the NBA.